Dreams

"Dream big." "Chase after your dreams." What other catch-phrases are out there? We might use the words "vision" or "purpose" instead, but really they all point to this idea that most of us want to have a bigger reason to be here, not just to breathe air, eat, sleep, and die.

A pastor recently talked about first making sure those are God’s dreams for us, not our own. And I agree. But, even before that, consider— is GOD your dream? When people are in love, oftentimes all they really want is the other person with them. That person is the dream. If we are truly in love with Jesus, then He should be all we want...if He is our dream, then He will also be the One to give us dreams to pursue and to achieve, for Him. As Psalm 37:4 tells us, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” As we delight in Him, His desires become ours.

In Luke 10, we read about the sisters Mary and Martha. Martha may have had a dream to follow Jesus; she certainly was fulfilling the dream of serving Him! Yet she was not satisfied— as none of us will be if we pursue our dreams and even accomplish them, apart from Him. We may even wonder if we should have chased after those dreams in the first place. We may compare our accomplishments with others and believe we’ve come up short, or we may feel resentful that others are not helping us achieve our dreams, as Martha acted toward Mary.

Mary, on the other hand, made Christ her dream. She sat at His feet and listened to Him, learned from Him, dwelled in His presence. Jesus said, “Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (v. 42 NIV).

So, how do we make sure our dreams are from God? We actually don’t start with that question. First, we must ask ourselves if HE is our dream. We walk with Him, talk with Him, spend time in His Word, and let Him speak to us through His Holy Spirit. He must pour His Spirit into us: "’In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams’” (Acts 2:17). As “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28) in Him, then we can dream His Dream and begin to live it out.

Make the Dream-Maker your All-in-All, your Dream, and the dreams, the purpose He has for you, will be there, waiting for you.

Musings...Inside, Outside

April 12, 2017

Inside, Outside

by Ruth Happ

Sometimes when it rains outside,

I sit and think

about all the things

I could be doing

Out there

among the trees and leaves

and growing things

As a kid I would

Play catch

with a football

baseball

or hacky-sack

tossed between our feet

Bounce the ball and

shoot some hoops

to the tune of

H.O.R.S.E. or P.I.G.

or maybe

travel Around the World

Other times my friends from school

would come knocking on my door,

“Come out, let’s ride!”

they’d say real quick,

then rush off to their bikes

I’d look at my mom,

who’d usually nod

and say,

“Just don’t be gone too long”

Then I’d grab my bike

and off we’d go

around the neighborhood

To see…

to feel the breeze

and fly

away from homework

worry

money

fights

Carefree, hands-free

thinking only of that moment

feeling like we could do

anything

that we dreamed

Sometimes I swam

indoors, outdoors

back and forth

now cold, now warm

jumping, diving, splashing

free-styling, hand-standing

smiling, laughing

feeling free

like a fish or a mermaid

hair streaming

But then

something shifted

the wind changed

my thoughts turned inward

I began to see

Myself

My face

My skin

My imperfection

And my play came to mean

something more than just play

the neighbor guy, my friend,

Hmm…

What else did he mean to me?

I started to feel afraid he’d see

everything that was wrong

with me

So I hid my face,

my acne

and turned away

despite his frustrated pleas

for me to turn

and look at him

when he was talking to me

I walked a space behind him

when going from the outdoor pool

to the indoor

so he couldn’t see

the mole

on the back

of my left leg

or the roundness of my thighs

or the way

the surface of them dented

like craters on the moon

when I sat down

and pulled back my skin

“Cell - u - lite”

they told me

“So weird to have so young!”

Well, that’s just one more thing

that’s wrong with me

The thoughts kept flying in

“I’ll never be like other girls

Pretty

Admired

Dressed-in-Style

Crushed on

Dated

Wanted...”

I didn’t see

or understand

that really

I had a sense of humor

and I was smart and serious

all at the same time

and I could play ball

and I could get better...

The kids’ yells at my mistakes

really didn’t matter

I could sing

And who cares if you get a solo?

I could dance

to the Nutcracker, Michael Jackson, C&C Music Factory, Christian rap...

or Riverdance, whatever

I could read well

and write

everyday in my journal

about my family and their fights

about my dog and cat who died

about the boys I thought I loved

about the sky when the sun went to bed in a canvas sheet of color

a story I made up about a girl and her grandmother

poetry that came to me like a little bird on a wire

And I could make someone else feel better

with help on her homework

or a smile and “Hello”

or a “Hey, can you come over?”

Somehow,

slowly,

I began to see

my face

my flaws

were not all

of who I was

Just truth of life,

as my mom would say,

nothing’s perfect

no one is

but Jesus

And all of us

have something

we want to hide

a place, a time,

we stay inside

where it’s safe

where no one has to see

who we really are

or want to be

I look around now

no windows on these walls

But I can see

in my mind’s eye

a world beyond

all that I know

A girl in her yard,

kicking a goal past her brother

A boy in his kitchen,

baking a pie for his mother

A man in his church,

holding hands with his daughter

A woman in her school,

teaching kindness to her students

And I realize

we need both inside and outside

to think

to talk

to see

to hear

to feel

to do

to be

I am who i am

but I am not all

that I can be

And so I keep on living

and learning

and dreaming

and loving

and being loved

And that is really

what life

means

to me.

To Be Brave

    Her fingers clutched the rough, porous rock as she searched with her right foot for a higher foothold. The air was cold and the wind bit a little as it passed over her face. She felt invigorated by it and inspired by the smell and sound of the sea. Finding a spot now, she gripped it with her toes and pulled her body up. Her hands found new grips, then her feet, as she scaled the black boulder on the beach. This was not the first rock she had climbed today; various boulders dotted the sand.  She practically raced from one to the next, climbing carefully but quickly, challenging only herself.  Her parents walked by the water, within sight, but leaving her to herself to explore and conquer as she frequently liked to do when away from home.

     The girl enjoyed going ahead, finding new paths, exploring caves, and climbing rocks and dunes. She was not one to sit on a beach towel and sunbathe. "Why go to the beach if you're not going to run in the sand and jump in the waves?" she thought. When friends said the ocean was too cold, the wind too strong, and the rain too drenching, she challenged them to face the waves and jump in with shorts and a sense of adventure. Once, she and a similarly bold friend jumped waves in cold rain until their fair legs turned red and their veins ran white. Oh, the glory of youth. Sometimes, she would calm her wandering spirit and sit and sing to the sea and clouds and gulls, pondering her future and looking to the horizon, wondering where life would take her.

     Years later, this same girl, now grown, nursed her infant and watched her other three children and her husband venture into the ocean. She had the baby to take care of and their possessions to protect, so she had to stay seated on the beach towel. Being honest with herself, however, she knew that even without the baby and possessions, she would be content to sit and read in the sun. Lately, her connection to the ocean and the nearby stream cutting through the sand was limited to a toe-dip or quick crossing in shallow water.  She was dissuaded by its frigidity and preferred the comfort of dry warmth. What had happened to the wanderer, explorer, adventurer she had once been? Had she, like some of the rocks, been worn down by the wind and water of life, those powerful forces of nature, that gradually eroded at her bravery or suddenly jolted her from her dreams into reality?

     When thinking of her future now, her dreams and imaginings did not stray much past the front porch of her home or the shelter of her church. To venture beyond her comfort zone meant traveling a path not paved for the ease of her stroller-pushing, post-pregnant, weaker body. It looked more like a glacial stream, in spots chaotic with strong currents, in others restful and quiet; she saw places where she might have to climb large, black rocks like those she'd scaled as a child. Her fingers and toes might not grip and hold her weight as well as they once did. And her head spun as she saw the stream split in the distance, wondering which way would be best to take, each looking equally worthy.

     
     Suddenly, a voice and guitar sang through the cloudy sky of her mind a song called "The Cave."* She caught the words:

...  I know my call despite my faults

     And despite my growing fears  

   

     But I will hold on hope

     And I won't let you choke

     On the noose around your neck

     And I'll find strength in pain 

     And I will change my ways

     I'll know my name as it's called again ...

     

     God knew her name. He would not let her strangle herself with failure or drown in despair when the way seemed indomitable and fraught with indecision. She knew that from John 10:3, "The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out" (ESV). She needed God to open the gate for her to walk through, call her by name, and lead the way. And she needed the guts to get over herself and get back in the game. She did not need to prove herself to the world, or even to herself, as she once thought. She did not even need God to prove Himself to her. He had already done that many times. She needed to be that brave girl again, to walk or wade through the cold water, to climb whatever giant rock loomed in her path, to jump the waves of unexpected trials and unmet expectations.  

     More of the lyrics broke through her thoughts:

     So come out of your cave walking on your hands
     And see the world hanging upside down
     You can understand dependence
     When you know the maker's land

Although vague and abstruse as to the songwriter's intended meaning, the words motivated her like the words of a familiar worship song, "Take heart and let love lead us through the night. Hold on to hope and take courage again."** John 16:33 also came to mind, "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! [or take courage] I have overcome the world." God had made the land, the sea, the rocks, the streams. He had made her. He knew what she could do. He knew her limitations. And she knew He was ever-capable, ever-loving, ever-with-her.

     Returning then to the song, she tied together parts from the beginning, middle, and end, to make it her own:

     It's empty in the valley of your heart
     The sun, it rises slowly as you walk
     Away from all the fears
     And all the faults you've left behind...

     ...Now let me at the truth
     Which will refresh my broken mind...

     'Cause I need freedom now
     And I need to know how
     To live my life as it's meant to be

     God, fill the emptiness in the valley of my heart. Help me walk away from my fears and faults, leaving them behind. Show me the truth of who I am and who You are. Free me to live life as You mean it to be. 

     My youthful self collides with my wiser and more timid self as I try to decide which path to take. The two paths I see affect both me and my family; both involve risk and cost; both require a leap of faith. Neither is a clear right or wrong. Do I finish the trail I already started? Or do I skip over to an all-new one? Heavenly Father, call my name. Show me the next step.

      
     But, then I think...sometimes, it's almost as if He doesn't show us the next step. Sometimes, like when climbing those rough rocks, we just have to feel for the next foothold and push on up. That's how I feel right now. I'm back on that rock, not sure which way is best. But, I'm moving one hand, one foot at a time, feeling my way along. My foot might slip. Or I might hang there for a while, gripping the rock till my fingers turn white, struggling to muster up the strength to keep moving. But like the words of the song Oceans, "Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me, You've never failed and You won't start now."*** God, I lift my eyes to you. Help me be brave and take courage, not in myself but in You, for You have "overcome the world" (John 16:33).  

      So, what's your next brave step?  

*Lyrics to Mumford and Sons' "The Cave" copied from http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mumfordsons/thecave.html. 

**From "Take Heart" by Hillsong United

***From "Oceans" by Hillsong United